Packing.



PATENTED MAY 29, 1906.

A. 0. VAN DERVORT.

PACKING.

APPLICATION FILED Emma,

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muREw n. ennuu co. Pmw-umoanmmns wuwumm ADRIAN O. VAN DERVORT, OF TROY, NEW YORK.

PACKING- Specification of Letters Patent.

iPatenteol May 29, 1906.

Application filed September 14, 1905. Serial No. 278,360.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADRIAN O. VAN DER- VORT, a citizen of the United States, residing in Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Packing, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to packing and packing-rings for preventing the leakage of fluid along a rod,and is peculiarly adapted to those for use in packing piston-rods of steamengines for preventing the leakage of steam from a steam cylinder or chamber along the rod on which the packing is applied.

The invention has for its object to provide a ring which will in use, subjecting it to a gradual reduction of its bearing-surf aces continuously yield to influences to which it is subjected and the component parts be thereby readjusted and the bearing-surface reformed for compensating for wear and maintaining a uniformly fluid-tight-working fit.

The packing-ring will be firmly held to the rod by the application to the outside of the ring of the pressure of the fluid to be held from escape by the packing, and which ring will be wear-compensating, its component parts being constructed for adjusting themselves to conditions induced by wear.

The various parts of the ring are made of metal of such character and, consistency,

preferably some alloy- -such, for instance, as Babbitt metalthat in useas the bearingfaces are reduced by action and attrition of l the rod, packed the fluid-pressure upon the outside of the ring will reform the various parts of the same and continuously secure a proper fiuid-tight-Working fit.

The rings when used in some classes of enginesas, for instance, locomotive steamengines-will be subjected to a pressure of steam of about two hundred pounds, which will mean a temperature in some instances of considerably more than half the fusing temperature of the alloy. Thus it will be seen that in this instance the metal packing will have several influences working upon it, the peoning and attrition of the pistonrod and the pressure and heat of the steam, the action of the rod reducing the bearingsurface and the pressure of the steam readjusting the parts and re-forming the bearingsurfaces and the heat of the steam modifying the mobility of the metal and expediting its re-formation.

The packing-ring made in accordance with the present invention will be composed of a number of elements, there being a ring divided into a number of segments for embracingthe rod and a ring also divided into a number of segments and having a portion for housing the first ring and a portion for engaging the rod and serving as a packing.

As the housed ring wears away in use and the packing portlon of the housing-rlng wears away it, under the pressure upon the outside of the housing portion, which is composed of segments making less than a complete annulus, will compress the housed segments and will also be stretched during such compression. After the parts have been properly fitted and applied to the rod wear will not render the same liable to leakage, the self-adjustability adding to the length of the life of the packing.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section. of a stuffing-box and a packing-carrier equipped with a number of rings embodying the present improve ment and applied to a rod shown in elevation.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the outer or housing portion of the packing-ring. Fig. 3 isa perspective view'of the inner or packing ring proper. Fig. 4 is a face view of a portion of the assembled rings, and Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the outer or housing ring portion.

The general arrangement of stuHing-box and packing-carrier illustrated in Fig. 1 is substantially the same as that shown by United States Letters Patent No. 759,330 for packing, issued to me May 10, 1904, and embraces in its essential features a stuffing-box 7, which will be assumed to be connected at its right-hand end with the cylinder of a steam-engine, to the piston of which the rod 8 will be assumed to be attached. The present organization illustrated is that which is ioo ton-rod, when the end of the rod is not larger than the portion packed. These portions are shown merely for the purpose of illustrating one of the uses of the invention, since it will be apparent that the rings which are the subject of the present invention and which will be specifically described farther on may be employed without the accessories herein illustrated in connection with the same.

The packing-casing is shown as having end portions 10 and 1 1,which normally bear upon the piston-rod. The ends 10 and 11 are united by a casing-ring 12, and within the chamber formed by the ends and this casingring are located, in the present instance, two of the packing-rings embodying the present improvement'and designated in a general way y 25. As the piston-rod vibrates and moves laterally in use, the casing and the packing-rings are forced to move with it but, as was described in my patent above referred to, the end members and 11 slide on hearing or ball rings 13 and14, respectively, one of which, as 13, is seated in a ground concave bearing-seat 15 in the gland and the other of which is seated in a concave seat 16 in the follower 17, which follower is reciprocable inside of the stuffing-box and is forced toward the packing-carrier and the ball-ring by a suitable eXpansionspring 18. Steam finds entrance through the-interior of the follower and the ports 19 to the outside of the ring 12 and through the ports 20 in such ring to the outside of the packing-rings 25, so that the same are tightly pressed against the rod while in use.

For the purpose of holding the several portions of the ring from accidental disassemblage when not under the influence of the exteriorly-applied steam-pressure a suitable spring-band 21 may surround each ring, which will keep the members of the ring in properworking positions. The band 21 may e prevented from slipping by an abutment, as 33, on one of the ring-segments. This general description of the surroundings of the ring will make one of its uses plain; but, as was before stated, the packing is capable of otheremployments than that illustrated herein and with fluids other than steam.

Each packing-ring (heretofore designated in a general way by 25) is shown as comprising a number of segments 26. Two such segments are illustrated in the present instance.

. Other numbers of segments may in practice be employed. The size of the rod will be one factor for consideration in determining the number of segments in any particular instance. Each of these segments has a bearing-face 27 for resting upon the rod to be packed. The rings 26 are mounted in chambers formed in segmental members 28, each of which members has a portion 29, having a I segmental face 30 for engaging the rod, the

ortions 29 and 31 together forming the housing for the segments 26. Two segments 28 are illustrated herein, although other numbers may be employed in practice, and'they together form less than a complete circle. The portion 28 is shown L-shaped in crosssection. Within each of the chambers ofthe .could be made to constitute when assembled an entire circle. It will be seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings that the joints are broken near the ends of the segments. This construction has been found to give good results in actual practice and in some situations will give better results than by having the joints of one ring come at the center of the segments of the other ring.

As the faces 30 and 27 wear away from the friction of the rod the pressure upon the outer face 32 will not only compress the segments 26 circumferentially and also compress the Wings 82, but will also stretch the member 28. The stretching and compressing a uniformly-tight joint will be maintained.

In practice the rings 26 may be worn away to a very large extent radially and still their faces 27 be pressed securely against the rod.

Each ring is a complete packing in itself; but more efficient packing is had by employing two or more of the rings closely assembled. The rings should preferably be placed with the faces 35 toward the direction from which the pressure of the fluid packed against is received. This will prevent the fluid from leaking between the inner ring 26 and the housing portions 31. Although the only example of use mentioned is the locomotive steam-engine, yet it will be apparent that other fluids than steam may be confined by rings employing the present improvement.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. A packing-ring embodying a casing, comprising segments together constituting less than a circle, composed of metal soft and mobile under the influence of the heat of steam under ressure, and a radially-reducible ring of similar metal located within the casing and radially reducible under the compression of the casing upon the application of heat and circumferential pressure thereto.

2. The packing-ring embodying a ring comprised of a number of segments having a bearing-face for the rod and composed of metal soft, re-formable and mobile under the influence of the heat and pressure of steam, and a casing of similar metal for said ring and comprised of a number of spaced-apart sections in engagement with the outer perimeter of said ring, said casing having faces on the outer perimeter of the sections for receiving fluid-pressure and pressing the ring against the rod and circumferentially compressing the ring and re-forming the bearing-surface as the same is reduced and worn away.

3. The packing ring embodying a soft, reformable, mobile metal ring comprised of a number of segments, and having a bearingface for the rod, and having its outer perimeter cylindrical, and a soft, re-iormable, mobile metal casing for said ring comprised of a number of spaced-apart sections presentin a cylindrical inner face in engagement with tile cylindrical outer perimeter of said ring, said casing having faces on the outer perimeter of the sections for receiving fluid-pressure and ressing the ring against the rod and circumerentially compressing the ring and re-forming the bearing-surfaces as the same is reduced and Worn away.

ADRIAN 0. VAN DERVORT. Witnesses:

W. M. BATES, H. Junn WARD. 

